


A Real Pandoran

by ClockworkJamboree



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Cute fluff under the stars, F/M, trans!Vaughn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3842728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkJamboree/pseuds/ClockworkJamboree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vaughn has a lot to take in after coming to Pandora. Fiona helps him feel a little more at home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Real Pandoran

Vaughn had honestly expected the worst from Pandora. That is to say, he’d expected to be brutally torn apart by skags or served at some kind of bandit shindig on a spitroast five minutes after he’d set foot on this hellhole. And that hadn’t happened. In fact, they’d certainly come close to a lot of that happening but it… Hadn’t. Here they were, avoiding death, time and time again.

It was _amazing_.

How had he lived all those years in a cramped office thinking the most exciting thing life had to offer was Hyperion’s latest innovation of the bow-tie personal computer slash mp3 player?

Well, no, that was still pretty damn high up there but this was something else. He’d even met some real live Pandorans and was now traveling with them, of all things. And they were pretty nice ladies, too. Nothing like all those Hyperion horror stories of Amazonian women who would string a man up by his balls and leave him there for a week. Although Sasha had assured him that is still totally a thing that happens, that those are a lovely group of women and speaking ill of them is probably the worst thing he could do.

Vaughn kept it in mind.

In fact, Vaughn learned a lot from Sasha and Fiona, just sitting around the campfire and hearing tales of the various cons they’d pulled. All the daring escapes. Every story had him on the edge of his seat. Rhys, meanwhile, seemed more preoccupied with complaining about sand getting in his everything, blood getting _on_ his everything and the general lack of indoor plumbing and hygiene options. Though when Fiona had questioned him about that he’d just give Vaughn an apologetic look followed by awkward silence.

Well, if nothing else, Rhys was trying his best here and he could appreciate that. Rhys was a good bro, he liked that about his best friend. A real trustworthy kind of guy. Too trustworthy, probably. But the number one rule at Hyperion was always ‘never trust anyone’.

Though, looking up at the clear Pandoran sky, at Elpis, the Helios station, all the stars… All that Hyperion corporate bullshit, the rush and everything, it didn’t seem to weigh on his mind. He was just enjoying the glow of being alive in the simplest sense. Being out on the land, surviving, he was a real rugged Pandoran and—

He let out a yelp and skittered from his place beside the van, scuttling along the side a few paces at the sight of movement only to have realized it was the shadow of a lone rakk, lazily circling overhead. That was fine. Those things normally didn’t just… Come down and attack people out of the blue, right? Especially not just one. If anything, didn’t they fly inland alone when they were old and going to die? Or was that seagulls?

He wasn’t really an animal kind of guy.  

The yelp had alerted Fiona, at any rate, as she slammed open the door, pistol in hand and ready to blast down whatever threat was waiting outside their camp. Only to find Vaughn, carefully readjusting his glasses and giving her a nervous wave. She gave a quick glance around before groaning, placing the pistol on a countertop and stepping outside, gently closing the door behind her.

“So. What was it this time. See your own shadow and scare yourself?”

“Something like that…” Vaughn gave an awkward laugh and glanced back up at the rakk briefly, “Oh, I didn’t wake you, did I? I was just gettin’ some fresh air, thinking—“

“Calling Hyperion to moonshot our asses?”

“You know we don’t have contact with them. Well. Good contact. The kind that wouldn’t get us _all_ killed.”

She nodded and turned to head back inside for a moment before stopping, hand on the door to the caravan before glancing back at him. It was odd. She thought, if anyone, Rhys would be the sort of guy who would be sitting outside stargazing and taking all this in. But no, of course it was the little nerdy numbers guy. Of course.

“Y’know, your buddy is in there out cold, I’m surprised you’re not the same. Unless it’s his snoring.”

“Yeah he’s uh… Pretty bad with that. But no, I mean… I didn’t want to miss any of… This, you know?” Vaughn gestured vaguely out in front of him and Fiona narrowed her eyes, squinting at the empty desert.

“What?”

“This! Pandora! The fact we’re still alive, the heat, just… It’s not something I’m used to, back on Helios.”

“I bet.” She smiled, taking a seat down on the sand beside him and resting her back against the cold, hard metal of the caravan. She could remember coming out and stargazing with Sasha and Felix when she was younger but that… Seemed like an eternity ago, now.

“I thought you Hyperion types were more likely to tear up all this ‘natural beauty’ and build holes like Opportunity or turn ‘em into Eridium mines. Or… Just make them giant public restrooms. What’s your deal with that, anyway? Rhys seems to think you have some kind of… _Thing_ about it.”

Vaughn gave her a blank stare before furrowing his brow. Well, he knew his bro’s best intentions were going to catch up with him eventually. At least he was trying, that’s what was important.

“I mean, is it like… A stomach thing? I knew a guy who had something like that once. Always needed a restroom and would make a hell of a mess. You know it’s fine but we can’t be stopping every five minutes to—“

“No! No. No, jeez, no. I’m just trans, you know? Different equipment. Rhys only found out a while before we came down here and he’s trying to be good about it but, well. Rhys. You only need to spend five minutes with him to know what he’s like. He’s nice, though.”

Fiona was taken aback by how… Casual he was. Which was unusual for her. A con artist should never be caught off guard or have the words taken out of their mouths.

“Oh… Oh! Oh. Uh. Well, I mean…”

“It’s nothing, I mean. We’re traveling together, it’s just like, easier to know if we’re gonna be sharing living spaces, communal bathrooms or… Large rocks we pee behind, I guess. But I mean, it’s just like saying Rhys’ shoes are like that because he needs orthopedic footwear, you know?”

She raised an eyebrow at that and smiled. Of course there was a reason those shoes were that ridiculous, no one would wear something like that willingly. Then again… Hyperion was pretty big on the ‘walking disaster’ end of the fashion scale.

And just talking to Vaughn, Fiona began to wonder if maybe not all these Hyperion douchebags were quite the same. Or, at least, this one seemed reasonable. Moreso than his friend, at least.

“I getcha. You do seem like the brains of your little outfit, makes sense for you to be on top of things. I like that.”

It was true, Vaughn figured. Two birds of a feather, the brains of their respective operations. They had that in common and it was nice to have a similar-minded person nearby to at least talk things through with.

And it certainly didn’t help that she was pretty damn good looking. Not that he’d been _staring_ or anything since she stepped out of the caravan door, that would have been impolite.

“So, uh… While you’re out here… You think you can tell me some more stories about all those grand cons you’ve pulled?”

“I’ve told enough, how about you give me one? I’m sure something interesting happens up on that big ol’ capitalism symbol in the sky.”

Vaughn tapped at his goatee in thought before lighting up with the perfect story, “Oh! Of course. Well. And hold onto that hat of yours, because this is a doozy, this one time I figured… Why not get coloured markers, you know? Add some spice to the whole payroll thing! Liven up the accounting department! But then you’re holding them in your hands and it’s like… Is any one man really capable of that much responsibility?”

Fiona was about to laugh, thinking it was some kind of joke but he looked deadly serious, as if recalling some sort of… Traumatic event, almost.

Well, she hadn’t come into this expecting much.

“…On second thought, how about I tell you all about the time Sasha and I took on a Maliwan envoy sent to show off some shiny new tech?”

Vaughn’s face lit up, leaning closer. And for the rest of the night, or at least, for as long as he could manage to stay awake, he hung on her every word. Maybe she’d make a Pandoran out of him yet.


End file.
